It's Discount Week! 🎁 Pick up new Marketplace gear at a discount when you donate today! Get My Gear!

Could the Fed help bail out New York's MTA?

Jul 16, 2020
The central bank offers loans to help state and local governments through the pandemic. But is it the best way to borrow?
A worker cleans the turnstiles at an MTA subway station in May. With hardly any farebox revenue, the MTA is considering a loan from the Fed's Municipal Liquidity Facility.
Spencer Platt/Getty Images

The Fed starts buying corporate bonds

Jun 16, 2020
The Federal Reserve is buying a broad cross-section of bonds to make sure firms have the money they need to weather the COVID-19 pandemic.
A trader walks by the New York Stock Exchange. The Federal Reserve has begun buying corporate bonds as part of the CARES Act.
Spencer Platt/Getty Images

What are ETFs and why is the Fed pouring billions into them?

May 12, 2020
The Federal Reserve is prepared to invest hundreds of billions of dollars in corporate bond ETFs to support businesses, and make it possible for these businesses to borrow during the Coronavirus downturn.
Johannes Eisele/AFP via Getty Images

Stress tests for banks aren't designed for a downturn as severe as this one

Apr 6, 2020
Today's news is worse — and coming faster — than in the scenarios the central bank tests for.
Michael Nagle/Getty Images

Ben Bernanke on COVID-19 downturn: "With help from the Federal Reserve and from the Treasury, I'm not really expecting a major financial crisis."

Mar 23, 2020
Former Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said the Fed has to do what it can to limit the damage caused by the coronavirus.
Former Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said the current downturn is "a different problem with different solutions."
Alex Wong/Getty Images

Could U.S. interest rates go negative like Europe's?

Sep 13, 2019
After the European Central Bank announced a rate cut, Trump urged the Fed to do the same.
Matt Cardy/Getty Images

While criticizing the Fed, Trump picks Cain for its board

Apr 5, 2019
President Trump wants to appoint the former pizza executive to the Federal Reserve.
President Trump says he wants to appoint Herman Cain to the board of the Federal Reserve.
Spencer Platt/Getty Images

For public good, not for profit.

The Fed holds interest rates steady, reflecting moderate economic slowdown

Mar 21, 2019
In a sharp turn from December’s forecasts, the Federal Reserve announced yesterday that it will hold short-term interest rates steady. The announcement comes amid signs of a slowing economy and weakening consumer and business spending. For workers and the housing market, however, the economy is still healthy.
Federal Reserve Board Chairman Jerome Powell speaks during a news conference on March 20, 2019 in Washington, DC. Powell said the Fed will not raise interest rates this quarter as was previously expected.
Mark Wilson/Getty Images

Why the Fed's balance sheet is making markets nervous

Jan 3, 2019
Robert Kaplan, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, on Thursday told Bloomberg that the Fed ought to think about slowing down how quickly it’s shrinking its balance sheet. What’s a balance sheet? It’s a ledger of the Fed’s assets and liabilities that, in the middle of the financial crisis, the Fed expanded as […]
Paul J. Richards/AFP/Getty Images